What songs really define their era?

Cafe Society
1

This is actually a bit of a tough one, because I’m not talking about timeless songs that are as good today as they were when first released. I’m thinking more of a song where even if you’ve never heard it before, you go, “Hey, it’s the 80s!” because all the cliches from that time period are present in the sound, in the lyrics, etc. Songs that are definitely products of their era. Here’s my list:

1950s:

Danny and the Juniors- At the Hop. If you’ve never heard it before, it screams 50s, with visions of high school dances and of course all the “dance crazes” that came out in the early rock n’ roll era.

1960s:

Turtles-Happy Together. The 1960s is hard to pick, because there’s so much classic, timeless music from that era, but this song stands out as commercial fluff that incorporated a lot of the cliches from the time. Plus the lyrics refer to spending a dime on a phone call, which dates it.

1970s: Bee Gees- Stayin Alive. Disco! Soundtrack disco!

1980s: Mr. Mister-Kyrie. To me, Mr. Mister is the quintessential 80s group. Their sound was so tied up in what was commercial at the time and the music was very dramatic as was popular in the 80s. If you have never heard it, it screams 80s, and even if you just read the lyrics you can peg it as an 80s tune. It’s still awesome of course.

Also gotta throw in a hair metal tune since that was a big thing in the late 80s:

Winger-Seventeen. If there was ever a hair metal song written specifically to be a big hit, it was that one. All the swagger, all the technical prowess, and just a tad threatening to parents. But we all knew it was just a pose, these were nice guys.

1990s: The 90s is a little tougher to categorize because pop music became so divided into very different genres at the time. Actually, there were periods in the 90s when I’m not even sure there was anything we could call “pop” music. Whatever the favorite alternative, R&B, country, or rap tune was hot was the #1 “pop” song, and it usually didn’t have all that much crossover appeal until the Spice Girls and later the Backstreet Boys saved pop and carried us into the next decade. Well, Savage Garden came before them, so I guess they saved pop. But here goes:

Rock- Spin Doctors-Two Princes. Cool song, cool lyrics, creative stuff, but everything about this band screamed “We’re alternative! But not too heavy! Love us!”

R&B-Montell Jordan-This is How We Do It. One of those songs that everyone’s singing while it’s on top, and completely forgettable once it’s gone. Montell Jordan was capitalizing on R&B trends at their most commercial.

Pop-Christina Aguilera-What a Girl Wants. Seems like all the pop groups in 1999 and 2000 were using the same Swedish stable of writers and it was producing a lot of stuff with similar sounds and hooks. It was pleasant though.

I’ll have to think about the 2000s. Although the current decade seems to have some very obvious trends which are defining this decade, such as every pop act using the exact same synthesizer sound.

2

1950s: Rock Around the Clock

1960s: *59th Street Bridge Song *(Feelin’ Groovy)

3

1990s: Smells Like Teen Spirit. Definitely the most influential song of the decade.

2000s: I’d go with one of the generic alt-rock-pop bands. Maybe *Move Along *by All-American Rejects, a totally generic song of it’s time, by the ne plus ultra of generic alt-pop bands. If not them, then something by Good Charlotte.

4

For What It’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield is the one I always see in movies about the 1960s.

5

I love this topic, and wanted to contribute the set of pages such as Top 100 Hits of 1970/Top 100 Songs of 1970 that run from 1950 through 2013. Scanning the lists may help locate (for you) what qualifies as the best answer to the OP’s question.

I’ll be back with my picks later.

6

Mr. Mister? I know the name, didn’t recognize the song, but when I Youtubed it I knew it. (And I hate it with a fiery passion.)

The 80s for me were more U2, Big Country, and Rush.

So:
Sunday Bloody Sunday
In a Big Country
Distant Early Warning

ETA: The 70s belonged to Elton John: Benny and the Jets, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Crocodile Rock, et al.

7

Decent choice, but I nominate “Incense and Peppermints” by Strawberry Alarm Clock as the prototypical 60s song. It’s got the trippy feel, the lyrics that scream “We were high when we wrote this!”, the classic 60s organ riffs, and both the song title and band name jump up and down and scream “1960s”!

8

For movies set in the late 60’s it’s often “White Rabbit.”

9

To me the 60s are defined by Signe Anderson’s vocals in Jefferson Airplanes version of Let’s Get Together. The phrasing of her verse (:56 on) just screams 60s.

10

The 60s belonged to the Beatles. To not recognize them as the voice of the 60s would be ridiculous.

Of course they have about, what 20 or 30 defining songs from that era. My pick would be Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. That just screams 1960s.

11

Leaffan, I think you misunderstand. We’re going for generic music that was a product of its era, not the music that stands the test of time. We’re looking for the bands that tries to mimic what the Beatles were doing. THe Beatles always drove the music trends during their heyday and even the best bands from that era could just follow along.

Same with the 80s. What U2 was doing in the 80s was totally unique and U2 songs aren’t 80s, 90s, or 00s songs. They are just U2 songs. Whereas Mr. Mister, or Bananarama, or Phil Collins’ work at the time was that stereotypical 80s sound. They weren’t trying to innovate, they were capitalizing on the existing trends. With the drawback being that Sussudio and Kyrie will always be “oh, that 80s song.” Whereas every U2 song is a classic regardless of era. And I say that as someone who hates the band.

12

I handicapped myself on these choices by picking the —6 year in each decade with the assumption that year would cover the mood of the period better than any other.

Then I picked which song from that year “felt” most representative of the period with the provision that I at least liked it (if I had even heard it before).

I stayed with the list(s) even though I would most likely have been listening to things not on the list(s).

All that said, here are my picks:

==========================================

Top 50 Hits of 1956/Top 50 Songs of 1956

Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel

Top 100 Hits of 1966/Top 100 Songs of 1966

Bob Lind - Elusive Butterfly - #5 1966 - HD Stereo!

Boz Scaggs - Lowdown

Top 100 Hits of 1986/Top 100 Songs of 1986

Robert Palmer - Addicted To Love

Top 100 Hits of 1996/Top 100 Songs of 1996

Eric Clapton - Change The World

Top 100 Hits of 2006/Top 100 Songs of 2006 | Music Outfitters
Justin Timberlake - SexyBack (Director’s Cut) ft. Timbaland

I’m not prepared to defend anything after the 70’s and would love to see other picks for that period.

13

Just my opinion, and there are a couple of instances where I really can’t choose one song, so maybe I narrowed it down to two or three songs:

1950s: Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley & the Comets
1960s: Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds - The Beatles ~ or ~ Good Vibrations - Beach Boys
1970s: Dancing Queen - ABBA
1980s: Take on Me - a-ha
1990s: Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
2000s: Hey Ya! - Outkast ~ or ~ Lose Yourself - Eminem

Bonus: 1940s: Take the A Train - Duke Ellington ~ or ~ Stormy Weather - Lena Horne

(And, on preview, it seems I may have misunderstood the question. My choices are based on my original interpretation of “What song could only be from Decade X - even if you’ve never heard it before, you know exactly WHEN it was popular.”)

14

Yeah, I figured I’d botch the explanation, but those are good choices. Especially Take On Me.

15

I concur with Rock Around the Clock for the 50s.

The 60s is more difficult. You had Phil Spector’s “wall of sound”, with all those great groups. There was surf music, and certainly The Beach Boys evoke the 60s. There was folk, and resulting protest songs are really evocative of the 60s. Most of the best Soul music came out at that time. And then there was the British Invasion and all the psychedelic music of Hendrix and others. I think the silliness of Incense and Peppermint, or the sappiness of San Francisco, by Scott McKenzie perhaps fit the OP’s intent well.

The 70s: it would have to be something disco like Shake Your Booty, by KC and the Sunshine Band, although I like something non-disco like Don McLean’s American Pie.

For the 80s, a tie with Kyrie would be Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Tears for Fears, or True, by Spandau Ballet.

I got nuthin’ for later decades.

16

I tried to hint at that same idea when I apologized for no real commitment to music since the 70’s (with random and occasional songs and artists coming along to cause me to at least listen up).

Is it worth the effort to set up a spinoff thread, aimed at older people, to identify the most recent song that really appealed to you? The idea could be spread to include the latest Oscar winning song from a movie. Like, when was the last one that sounded like music to you?

Geezer griping here. So you younger folks, just carry on. I’ll sit here and pat my foot.

17

I sort of lost interest in the pop/rock scene after the 80s, although once in awhile something will catch my ear, like Pink’s voice or Sheryl Crow’s All I Wanna Do.

18

In spite of backtracking to find Suzanne Vega’s Tom’s Diner as the most recent one I recognized by name (of song and artist) I’d have to vote for ‘‘Kissing a Fool’’ by George Michael – 1988 – (maybe the only thing he’s done that I want to hear again) as one I still like as much as I did then. Sad!

19

I agree that For What It’s Worth has become the de-facto song that means “this is about the 60s. Look! It’s the 60s! Change! Upheaval! Hippies!”

But as my husband says, by now that’s a scan of a xerox of a ditto of a mimeograph. Doesn’t bear much resemblance to the real thing.

20

I vote for this one, too. Just added it to my YouTube Favorites.